Balaji-Vardhan pair begins its campaign in style at the Chennai Open Challenger

After trailing 0-2 in the first set, the local pair came back strongly to square things up at 2-2. A tie-break had to decide the winner as the teams were locked up at six each at the end of twelve games. 

The game had to be stopped for around 15 minutes during the decider as the pairs were at crossheads over a baseline decision. The stoppage seemed to have switched off the Kazakh-Spanish combo as they appeared to be a pale shadow after that episode. The pair lost the set 6-7 and then went on to succumb 1-6 in the second set. 

“It was a good start. We are hoping to continue this run in our upcoming games. Happy to have a challenger event back home after missing out on the Chennai Open (ATP 250) this year. We had our off-season together in Coimbatore. That seems to be paying dividends,” Vishnu Vardhan said after the win. 

Tournament’s third seed Duckhee Lee breezed past N Vijay Sundar Prasanth on the opening day. The Korean got the better of his opponent 6-3, 6-4. 

Local lad Sasi Kumar Mukund lost to Spaniard Gerard Granollers 3-6, 2-6 while Arjun Kadhe defeated higher ranked Indian opponent Saketh Myneni with a scoreline of 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul, who earned a spot in the main draw of the tournament after getting past the qualifying rounds, beat Sriram Balaji 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.